The Benefits of Volunteering

Connects you to others – helping make your community a better place can expand your network, and boost your social skills, Volunteering is a great way to make new friends, especially if you are new to the area

Improves your mind and body – volunteering can provide a healthy boost to your self confidence, self- esteem and general life satisfaction. It can also help you stay physically healthy.

Volunteering can provide career experience and the opportunity to acquire new skills –including the opportunity to try out a new career, without making a long-term commitment or the chance to gain experience in a new field. It can also offer the opportunity to build upon existing skills and use them to the benefit of the wider community.

Volunteering can provide fun and fulfilment -it is a great way to explore your interests, an opportunity to work within a different environment or a relaxing escape from your daily routine of work and family commitments.

How Do I Volunteer?

When you visit the Volunteer Centre you will be invited to complete a simple registration form during an informal and confidential one- to-one interview. We can then guide you towards an appropriate volunteering opportunity. All our volunteers are offered initial training and advice and full support thereafter, ensuring our volunteers get the best from their experience.

A letter from one of our current volunteers

“Although the Volunteer Centre is well known for its invaluable Community Car Service, we also have volunteers who look after the community in various other ways. Please continue reading to find out more about how important the role of a “non-driving” volunteer is …..

On retirement from teaching I felt that I would still like to serve the community in some other way, rather than “idle away my days!”. So I visited the Halesworth Volunteer Centre, gathered as much information as I could about its work and I became a volunteer driver with the Car Service. However, when my husband became a driver I decided to become a home befriender and over the years, have helped with such tasks as shopping, form filling for benefit claims (very important, as there are many people who find the bureaucracy involved quite terrifying), telephoning for doctors’ appointments and hospital visits, small odd jobs and many other things, including giving a partner or family member some time to be on their own.

The most important outcome of visiting, in my view, is that it eases the loneliness for the householder concerned. Often you are the only friendly face they see for days on end and you need to be considerate and aware towards them. It is also important to understand that you are going into their home and they must be empowered to speak for themselves.

In my role as a non-driving volunteer I have got to know some fascinating people, with wonderful stories to tell. A lady whom I helped had been a singer with the BBC Classical Singers, travelling up to London, after a hard days’ work, to rehearse for a couple of hours. Now and again we would have fun when I played the piano for her to sing and bring back pleasant memories. A lovely man I helped, a real gentleman, had a wife in care with dementia. During the war he had served as a sailor with the Arctic Convoys that took supplies to the Soviet Union, getting serious frostbite on his hands and feet.

Being a volunteer in this way is very rewarding. Even just visiting someone for a chat and a cup of tea is really appreciated. No one needs to feel completely alone when they know that sometime during the day a volunteer will call and have a laugh with them.”